First Financial Bancorp. (FFBC) Competitors

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) and Webster Financial (NYSE:WBS) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, media sentiment, risk, valuation, dividends, community ranking, analyst recommendations, earnings and institutional ownership.

Is FFBC or WBS a better dividend stock?

First Financial Bancorp. pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Webster Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. First Financial Bancorp. pays out 40.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Webster Financial pays out 36.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Does the media favor FFBC or WBS?

In the previous week, Webster Financial had 8 more articles in the media than First Financial Bancorp.. MarketBeat recorded 8 mentions for Webster Financial and 0 mentions for First Financial Bancorp.. First Financial Bancorp.'s average media sentiment score of 1.00 beat Webster Financial's score of 0.89 indicating that First Financial Bancorp. is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
First Financial Bancorp.	Positive
Webster Financial	Positive

Do analysts rate FFBC or WBS?

First Financial Bancorp. presently has a consensus price target of $30.25, suggesting a potential upside of 11.72%. Webster Financial has a consensus price target of $62.08, suggesting a potential upside of 11.35%. Given First Financial Bancorp.'s higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe First Financial Bancorp. is more favorable than Webster Financial.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Financial Bancorp.	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Webster Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.82

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, FFBC or WBS?

Webster Financial has higher revenue and earnings than First Financial Bancorp.. First Financial Bancorp. is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Webster Financial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
First Financial Bancorp.	$1.62B	1.60	$228.83M	$2.40	11.28
Webster Financial	$4.18B	2.29	$768.71M	$4.37	12.76

Do insiders & institutionals believe in FFBC or WBS?

77.2% of First Financial Bancorp. shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 85.6% of Webster Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 2.0% of First Financial Bancorp. shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Webster Financial shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Is FFBC or WBS more profitable?

First Financial Bancorp. has a net margin of 18.67% compared to Webster Financial's net margin of 18.39%. Webster Financial's return on equity of 10.82% beat First Financial Bancorp.'s return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Financial Bancorp.	18.67%	10.52%	1.38%
Webster Financial	18.39%	10.82%	1.21%

Which has more volatility and risk, FFBC or WBS?

First Financial Bancorp. has a beta of 1.02, meaning that its stock price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Webster Financial has a beta of 1.29, meaning that its stock price is 29% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in FFBC or WBS?

Webster Financial received 260 more outperform votes than First Financial Bancorp. when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 58.73% of users gave Webster Financial an outperform vote while only 46.37% of users gave First Financial Bancorp. an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
First Financial Bancorp.	Outperform Votes 275 46.37%	Underperform Votes 318 53.63%
Webster Financial	Outperform Votes 535 58.73%	Underperform Votes 376 41.27%

Summary

Webster Financial beats First Financial Bancorp. on 14 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.